Black Magic Woman

Single infobox
Name = Black Magic Woman

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Artist = Fleetwood Mac
Released = 1968
Format = 7" single
Recorded = February 1968
Length = 2:48
Genre = Blues-rock
Label =

• Blue Horizon
  57-3138 (UK)

Epic
5-10351 (USA)

"Black Magic Woman" is a song written by Peter Green that first appeared as a Fleetwood Mac single in various countries in 1968, subsequently appearing on the 1969 Fleetwood Mac compilation albums "English Rose" (US) and "The Pious Bird of Good Omen" (UK). It became a classic hit by Santana in 1970, reaching #4 in the U.S. and Canadian charts, after appearing on their "Abraxas" album, becoming more closely associated with Santana than Fleetwood Mac. In 2005 the song was covered by ex-Thin Lizzy guitarist Snowy White on his album "The Way It Is".

Fleetwood Mac version

Although not nearly as popular as Santana's arrangement two years later, "Black Magic Woman" nevertheless became a fairly popular blues-rock hit peaking at #37 in the UK Singles Chart. It was featured in Fleetwood Mac live set-lists even after Green had left the band, when it was often sung by Danny Kirwan, and during concerts in the early 1970s it would form the basis for long mid-concert jams. The song would often be preceded by a band member reminding the audience that it was a Fleetwood Mac song before it became such a big hit for Santana.

tructure

Set in the key of D minor, the verse follows a twelve bar chord progression alternating between D minor⁷, A minor⁷, and G minor⁷, and the instrumentation consists of vocals, two guitars, bass guitar and drums. It is homophonic, the voice and lead guitar taking the lead roles, and set in common time (4/4).:D minor ⁷ | D minor ⁷ | A minor ⁷ | A minor ⁷ | D minor ⁷ | D minor ⁷ | G minor ⁷ | G minor ⁷ | D minor ⁷ | A minor ⁷ | D minor ⁷ | D minor ⁷

antana version

Infobox Single
Name = Black Magic Woman


Artist = Santana
B-side = "Hope You're Feeling Better"
from Album = Abraxas
Released = 1970
track_no = 2
Genre = Blues-rock, Latin Rock
Length = 5:24 (album version)3:16 (single version)
Writer = Peter Green
Label = Columbia
Producer = Fred Catero and Carlos Santana
Misc = Extra tracklisting
Album = Abraxas
Type = studio
prev_track = "Singing Winds, Crying Beasts"
prev_no = 1
track_no = 2
next_track = "Oye Como Va"
next_no = 3

Background

Santana's version, recorded in 1970, is a medley with Gabor Szabo's 1967 "Gypsy Queen," a mix of jazz, Hungarian folk and Latin rhythms. The song became one of Santana's staples and their biggest hit. "Abraxas" reached #1 on the charts and hit quadruple platinum in 1986, partially thanks to "Black Magic Woman." The Santana version is also used as a cover in the music/rhythm video games and .

tructure

While the song follows the same general structure of Peter Green's version, also set in common time, in D Dorian and using the same chord progression, melody and lyrics, it is considerably different. A curious blend of blues, rock, jazz, 3/2 afro-Cuban son clave, and "Latin" polyrhythms, Santana's arrangement added conga, timbales and other percussion, in addition to organ and piano, to make complex polyrhythms that give the song a "voodoo" feel distinct from the original. [Olsen, Eric. "That Voodoo You Do: The Classic Santana." "Blogcritics.org" (Accessed October 3, 2006). ]

The introduction of the song, which was adapted from Szabo's "Gypsy Queen," consists of simple hammer-ons, pull-offs and slides, before moving into the introduction solo of "Black Magic Woman." After the introduction solo, which follows the same chord progression as the verse, the song moves into an eight-bar piano solo on D minor, and proceeds to two verses sung by keyboardist Gregg Rolie. Two verses of guitar solo follow the two sung verses, which is then succeeded by another verse, before moving into a modified version of the "Gypsy Queen" section from the beginning of the song, to end the piece.

There is also a single edit that runs for 3:15. On the radio the piano solo is sometimes omitted while "Gypsy Queen" is almost always omitted. Whilst other longer versions have since been released, including one which runs for 8:56.

References